Kerry Mondragon

Kerry Mondragon is a writer, director, and producer known for Tyger Tyger (2021) (2019) and Meet Me at a Funeral (2015) (2014). Mondragon was born in the ancient haunts of the Sonoran barrios and borderlands of the Mexican desert, a landscape populated by wild poets, peyote roadmen, and saintly Mexican grandmothers. He wrote poetry at an early age and corresponded with Allen Ginsberg at age ten, until Allen's death. After his father left, he was raised by his mother and step-father (turned-father,) they relocated to Marin County, California where he was blasted by the culture shock of a very different world. He discovered the dark shadow side of the wealthy county - a youth scene of bullying, trauma, drugs, alcohol, and disillusioned children. Bullied out of middle school and unable to adjust to high school, he began studying film and writing his first screenplay, in-and-out of various schools he honed his artistic skills, he dropped out of college, worked at an ad agency and used that money to jump onto a crowd-funded Spike Lee feature film where he assisted the legendary director in prep, principal photography, and post-production. This served as his film school. He moved to Los Angeles where he returned to commercial filmmaking and developed a significant addiction to opiates and benzos. This landed him in a medically-induced coma following an overdose. Upon awakening, he resolved to make film in a pure, honest, and truthful way - something stripped of all Hollywood illusions - stories that are recognizable to those still lost in the pain of addiction - art that communicates hope to the hopeless.